STL Rising is a blog dedicated to the renaissance of the City of St. Louis.
It's a place to discuss issues and possibilities, all in the spirit of promoting the continuing progress of this great metropolis of the Mississippi Valley.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Northside Preservation

Last week there was discussion about providing incentives for land assembly for redevelopment in distressed communities. The above is an aerial view of the neighborhood around St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church on Shreve in North City.

St. Elizabeth church is in the middle of a beautiful northside neighborhood with nearly all of its original buildings intact. We made a point of returning to the neighborhood again soon to attend church services at St. Elizabeth's.

The idea of land assembly for major redevelopment here is probably a low priority compared to preserving the historic character of the area. Lots of the north side is similarly intact in terms of its original building stock.

If you're interested in learning more about community based organizations working to strengthen the northside of the city, be sure to include the long term efforts of Erma Lawrence and the Northside Preservation Commission in your research.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Ok, I get it, you think the credit is a good idea. However, your comments don't really say much about what is wrong with the specific housing market(s) where it is likely to be implemented--ie. the near north neighborhoods of JVL, St. Louis Place and ONSL. Any comments from the real estate developer perspective?

Given city blocks run roughly five to ten acres in size, I believe the current 75 acre minimum on the proposed land assembly tax credit is higher than necessary.

We would be creating more options for redevelopment by establishing a program design which encouraged a wider range of project sizes. Establishing a smaller minimum does not foreclose on larger sized projects.

See today's post for more general discussion regarding the benefit of a tax credit program for land assembly in distressed communities.